Brenner, Leslie

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Brenner, Leslie

PERSONAL:

Hobbies and other interests: Art, photography, writing, politics.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Los Angeles, CA. Office—Los Angeles Times, Food Section, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Author. Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, 2003—, began as deputy editor, currently food editor.

MEMBER:

Culinary Historians of New York.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Prix Médicis finalist; Best Books of 2001 citation, New York Times, for Greetings from the Golden State; Versailles World Cookbook Award; two James Beard Foundation Awards, one in 2004, for article "Forget What You Know: This Is Gazpacho."

WRITINGS:

(With Katharine Kinsolving) Essential Flavors: The Simple Art of Cooking with Infused Oils, Flavored Vinegars, Essences, and Elixirs, Viking (New York, NY), 1994.

The Art of the Cocktail Party, illustrated by Juliet Jacobson, Plume (New York, NY), 1994.

Fear of Wine: An Introductory Guide to the Grape, illustrated by Lettie Teague, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1995.

American Appetite: The Coming of Age of a Cuisine, Bard (New York, NY), 1999.

Greetings from the Golden State: A Novel, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2001.

The Fourth Star: Dispatches from inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant, Clarkson Potter (New York, NY), 2002.

Former contributing editor, Travel and Leisure.

SIDELIGHTS:

Leslie Brenner is the food editor of the Los Angeles Times and also the author of several books on food and wine. Since taking over the food editor's desk at the Times, Brenner has brought the newspaper's "coverage and criticism of cooking, restaurants and wine to a new level of sophisticated distinction," according to Kevin Roderick of LA Observed. Her books range from straightforward cooking guides, such as Essential Flavors: The Simple Art of Cooking with Infused Oils, Flavored Vinegars, Essences, and Elixirs, to an insider's look at the inner workings of a top-notch restaurant in The Fourth Star: Dispatches from inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant. Brenner also writes fiction, and her Greetings from the Golden State: A Novel was favorably received by critics.

Brenner attempted to define the term "American cuisine" in her 1999 publication, American Appetite: The Coming of Age of a Cuisine. She explores the culinary history of the United States, from Puritan foods to contemporary trends, and considers the various forces that have shaped American cuisine. These include the cuisine of immigrant populations, modern food preservation, and the spread of interest in cuisine through the media and the influence of celebrity chefs such as Julia Child and James Beard. The book is full of "fascinating" food trivia, personal memories, and information on some of the celebrities of the food world, according to John Charles in the Library Journal. It was also called "delectably written" by Brad Hooper in Booklist.

In order to write The Fourth Star, Brenner spent a full year observing Boulud, his staff, and his customers. She tells the story vividly and dramatically, making the reader feel that he or she is "in the kitchen, side by side with employees striving to nab a four-star review," stated a writer for Restaurants & Institutions. Booklist reviewer Mark Knoblauch found The Fourth Star "fascinating" and even recommended it to anyone looking for lessons on how to "do public service right."

Brenner's debut novel, Greetings from the Golden State, tells the story of the Kelbow family, who live in California. The story, which spans decades, shows the Kelbows enjoying an archetypal California lifestyle of sunny happiness. Then, husband Don, an entertainment lawyer, leaves his wife, Fanny, and his sons Andrew and Mike, because of an affair with his secretary. Nothing turns out as anyone planned or hoped, but in the end, Andrew and Mike learn to cook well, and everyone enjoys their food. There is little in the way of plot and many problems are left unresolved at the novel's end, yet the book is "entertaining" because of its "complex and intriguing" characters and its light humor, according to Michelle Kaske in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly writer found the book not only "laugh-out-loud funny" but also "genuinely touching." Greetings from the Golden State was praised as "sharp and funny" by Alice Dark in the New York Times Book Review. Dark noted that while Andrew is the book's central character, it is Fanny who dominates, for she is "a plucky soul who charges through life with enormous vitality and little introspection and whose big personality inhabits the heart of this book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 1995, Alice Joyce, review of Fear of Wine: An Introductory Guide to the Grape, p. 375; April 15, 1999, Mark Knoblauch, review of American Appetite: The Coming of Age of a Cuisine, p. 1489; July, 1999, Brad Hooper, review of American Appetite, p. 1909; November 15, 2000, Michelle Kaske, review of Greetings from the Golden State: A Novel, p. 611; June 1, 2002, Mark Knoblauch, review of The Fourth Star: Dispatches from inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant, p. 1654.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 1999, review of American Appetite, p. 343; May 1, 2002, review of The Fourth Star, p. 629.

Library Journal, October 1, 1995, Wendy Miller, review of Fear of Wine, p. 113; April 15, 1999, John Charles, review of American Appetite, p. 138; December, 2000, Wendy Miller, review of Greetings from the Golden State, p. 184.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, February 4, 2001, Mark Rozzo, review of Greetings from the Golden State, p. 10.

New York Times, Frank J. Prial, review of Fear of Wine.

New York Times Book Review, May 6, 2001, Alice Dark, review of Greetings from the Golden State, p. 31; June 23, 2002, Thomas McNamee, review of The Fourth Star, p. 8.

Publishers Weekly, August 29, 1994, review of Essential Flavors: The Simple Art of Cooking with Infused Oils, Flavored Vinegars, Essences, and Elixirs, p. 74; March 1, 1999, review of American Appetite, p. 64; December 11, 2000, review of Greetings from the Golden State, p. 62.

Restaurant Hospitality, October, 2002, review of The Fourth Star, p. 32.

Restaurants & Institutions, September 15, 2002, review of The Fourth Star, p. 20.

Wine Spectator, December 15, 1995, review of Fear of Wine, p. 142.